by MarkLives (@marklives) Danielle Sneiders has rejoined the ad industry as the new managing director of ad agency, HelloFCB+. A seasoned industry executive with 20 years’ management and operational experience, she replaces Robyn Campbell, who recently joined Machine_.
MarkLives caught up with Sneiders to find out about her return to the industry after having taking time off after her daughter’s birth, her vision for the business and her message to stakeholders in this time of crisis (see below).
Experience
Sneiders started her career at Ogilvy Johannesburg in 1999. She worked at Net#Work BBDO Johannesburg and MorrisJones & Co (where she assisted on the Virgin Mobile launch), before helping to establish MetropolitanRepublic, where she headed up the MTN South Africa account. Finally, she joined the now-closed The Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg (Jupiter Joburg), first as director for new business development and then as managing partner.
“Over the years, I have been privileged to learn so much from the fiercest women in this industry — Renee Silverstone, Alison Deeb, Angel Jones, Nina Morris, Boniswa Pezisa and Nici Richter, among them,” says Sneiders. “They, and the teams I have been lucky to work with, have helped me understand what it takes to deliver exceptional creative work while building clients’ businesses and an agency. I look forward to continuing my journey with HelloFCB+’s talented people and its impressive client portfolio.”
Q&A
This is obviously a tough time to take the lead at any ad agency. How are you planning to steer the agency through the current crisis — both economic and social — created by the corona pandemic? Danielle Sneiders: There is talk of this being a test for the so-called fourth industrial revolution. Regardless of size, scale or complexity, all sectors whether formal or informal have had limited time to adapt prior to lockdown. I believe that those leaders and corporates [who] succeed during these unprecedented times will be those that understand dexterity and adaptability will be the new normal, [that] trust in their people is crucial. Those [who] serve society and consider the security, stability and safety of their fellow South Africans above their own corporate ambitions will be remembered and rewarded.
What made you decide to rejoin the industry at this time and HelloFCB+ in particular? DS: Initially I was drawn to the “Human Connections” philosophy of the agency; the notion [of] being yourself, fighting the familiar, making things happen, keeping an open mind, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and having one another’s backs really resonated with me on a personal and professional level. When I met the team, it became clear that they are embodiment of those values. Their passion and love for what they do and who they do it with shines through. Working with people who find joy in what they do a privilege.
What is your key message to staff, clients, shareholders and stakeholders during the current crisis? DS: After 20 years in a tough industry, what I have learnt is “Relationships Above All Else”. Great relationships, whether personal or professional, are grounded in the ability to communicate. Communication has perhaps never been more important than it is right now. Effective communication requires trust honesty and integrity. The notion of “Human Connections” has never been more important than it is now; authenticity and integrity is what our country needs and deserves.
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
by Kyle de Waal & Morgan Botha. Things are tough right now, with South Africa under covid-19 lockdown, so here’s our choice of brilliant ads that connect and inspire: Chicken Licken (social distancing), Pick n Pay (reminding us not to panic buy), Nando’s (inspiring us all), South African Tourism (reminding that we’ll be able to travel again), and our president, Cyril Ramaphosa (ably guiding our country).
We’re all stuck at home, looking out the windows wishing we could just go back to when things were “normal” but, since life isn’t going to be normal for a while, we might as well embrace it and enjoy the effort that brands and agencies put into making incredible ads. Finally, please follow the laws and keep your fellow South Africans in mind during these uncertain and scary times. Stay inside, wash your hands, only buy what you absolutely need and help each other out. We will get through this together and we hope to be out and about again soon.
#AdChamp: Chicken Licken’s Everyone’s Talking About It — Kentucky
When a company and agency make content this good, it’s very difficult to stop talking about them. Joe Public has, once again, blown us away. The use of humour in this mockumentary is absolutely incredible, the amount of effort put in leaves us (almost) speechless, and this has been our comic relief since it arrived in our inbox. It’s also one of the best examples of toeing the line of South African advertising law we’ve ever seen. Nothing’s said outright but the implication is oh so clear, and it’s glorious.
We’ve watched this ad about 50 times now and we still laugh out loud every time; we’d happily pay full movie-price tickets to see a feature-length film version of this ad, where the good people of Kentucky rise up and demand Chicken Licken — “I don’t know why they would do that” is the probably the funniest thing we’ve seen or heard since we went into self-isolation. That look of pure disappointment will never get old.
This genuine, warm, and hilarious ad is the perfect pick-me-up for when you’re sitting at home, feeling anxious and scared. We might not be able to get any Chicken Licken right now but, the second we’re allowed out of quarantine, that’s the first restaurant we’re heading to!
Rating
Credits
Brand: Chicken Licken
Client: Chantal Sombonos van Tonder
Agency: Joe Public United
Group chief creative officer: Pepe Marais
Chief creative officer: Xolisa Dyeshana
Creative director: Assaf Levy
Art director: Zamani Ngubane
Copywriter: Caroline Bergh
Strategy: Leigh Tayler
Account management: Amber Mackeurtan, Asbo Ofori-Amanfo
Agency TV producer: Wendy Botha
Production company: Burley Boys
Director: Katlego Baaitse
Be kind; think of others when shopping
#AdChamp: Pick n Pay’s Don’t Panic Buy — Shop Thoughtfully
This ad arrived just when it was needed the most — you’ve probably already heard about, or seen in person, how some people who can afford to have been manically hoarding resources when it’s unnecessary — factories are still functioning and trucks are still delivering produce. Anyway, the day before the nationwide lockdown officially started, Pick n Pay uploaded this song to Twitter and shared a positive message in a novel, imaginative way.
This ad also shows how it’s possible for people to stay at home and still produce amazing content. None of these South African celebrities was even in the same room and yet they managed to make a song together. It’s also really catchy. This might just be your quarantine earworm.
Rating
Credits
Brand: Pick n Pay
Ad agency: King James Group CT
Editing: Me&MyFriends
Music: Bellville Studios
Copywriter: Drew Murphy
Art director: Gregory Booysen
Executive creative directors: Devin Kennedy, Matt Ross
Chief creative officer: Alistair King
Editor: Anthony Lee-Martin
Music: Theo Crous, Ard Matthews
Client: John Bradshaw, Michelle van Schalkwyk-Haley
Agency producer: Kathy Jones
Client service director: Melanie Whitfield
Nando’s takes this seriously
#AdChamp: Nando’s “Stay Safe, Stay Home” message to Nandocas from Robbie Brozin
Among the many things we’d never thought we’d be doing, we never thought we’d get emotional watching a video by a restaurant but here we are. At this time, it’s important to listen to positive words and Nando’s, as usual, has pulled through for us.
By taking a stand and closing down all its restaurants, Nando’s has shown many businesses that now isn’t the time to be selfish — now is the time to think of the people who work for you, to think of their families, to flatten the curve and keep people safe through “social togetherness”. And not to do it with sadness but do it “with pride, with courage, with passion” as “because, for the first time, our flame must leave our home and go to yours, and stay there. For now.”
Incredibly stirring.
Rating
Credits
MarkLives will publish a credits list once we receive one from the creative agency. At the time of publication, the list wasn’t yet available.
We will travel again
#AdChamp: South African Tourism’s Don’t Travel Now So You Can Travel Later
South Africans are coming together in a way that none could have predicted. For the most part, in urban areas, people are working together, staying indoors, and following the rules for the greater good. But it’s hard to do so when you’re used to going to the gym, walking your dog, visiting the beach for your daily dose of sunshine, and spending time with your friends.
These first ads in a new brand campaign from a brand-new set of ad agencies are doing an incredible job of reminding us why it’s important to stay at home because, if we all do what we know is right, things will go back to (new) normal and we will travel again. They are produced so beautifully, narrated by two locals with incredibly soothing voices, and showcase many proudly South African scenes [including 2017’s “Bheki the Mbhaco Maker” — ed-at-large] that we all miss dearly. Yet we see something to look forward to — a hope to carry us through the dark times.
This campaign has been created not to make money, not to sell a product, but to bring the country together while staying apart. We feel proud to be part of this rainbow nation that has taken such decisive action in a time of trouble.
Rating
Credits
Ad agency: Metropolitan Republic:
Creative partner: Paul Warner
Executive creative director: Kamogelo Sesing
Copywriter: Chiedza Quinchette
Art director: Mbuso Ndlovu
Production company: The Rudeboy Collective
Creative director: Monde Like the World
Executive producer: Sabelo Mahlangu
Post-production: Postmodern Production
Audio: Earworm Studios
Our president steps up
#AdChamp: President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa
For our final Ad Champ, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the incredible work done by our own president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
In the past few weeks, we’ve all found ourselves turning to social media and our TVs for guidance, and we’ve found it. Our government has done an incredible job of staying calm in a crisis and its firm and fast action should save thousands of lives, if not more. We’ve been inspired by the words of our president over many speeches and we continue to look to him for leadership during very uncertain times. We feel an immense pride watching his speeches, knowing that our government is taking this incredibly seriously and is doing its best to have our backs.
This is a time of unprecedented anxiety and many of us aren’t doing so well right now, so it’s comforting to know that most of those elected to run our country share that stress and are working hard to make sure our country survives. President Ramaphosa’s speeches[watch videos here — ed-at-large] during this novel coronavirus pandemic show a communications campaign tightly crafted to give South Africans hope and inspiration.
Rating
Credits
Brand: Government of South Africa
Agency: Government Communication and Information System (GCIS)
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
Who are Kyle de Waal and Morgan Botha? We are two young-at-heart millennials trying with all our might to break the mould of the stereotypical ‘all millennials are the same…’ because — after all — we’re all just people. Together with the editors of MarkLives.com, we enjoy finding ads worth watching and talking about, and then showcasing them here in our new monthly MarkLives column, #AdChamps.
If you’re involved in making South African or African advertising that’s smart, funny and/or engaging, please let us know at adchamps@marklives.com.
by Veli Ngubane (@TheNduna) Jay Badza (@jaybadza47; IG: @jaybadza) represents the future of the communications industry: young, intelligent, brave and ambitious. From Dobsonville, Soweto, he is the founder of Orchard on 25, a Johannesburg-based boutique marketing and communication agency. We trace his career and entrepreneurial journey and, with much achieved, we get the feeling that it’s just the beginning.
Jay Badza. Supplied.
Veli Ngubane: Tell us more about yourself: where did you grow up and what did you want to be when you were growing up? Jay Badza: Growing up, I was fascinated by the medium of television. I remember, in my late teenage years in Dobsonville, Soweto, I would take these long walks to just escape from my reality by creating this exciting fictious world I wanted to live in. This was inspired by consuming television programmes such as The Oprah Winfrey Show or Generations, where stereotypes were being shattered every single day. So, I naturally wanted to be a writer, producer and director.
VN: Please share your journey with us: where did all begin and tell us about how you got into entrepreneurship? JB: I got into the brand marketing communication space when I was accepted for an internship at Meropa Communications. I think I have the 2010 FIFA World Cup to thank for my career, because I was one of the lucky few who benefited from opportunities presented by the world cup between 2006 and 2010. It was an exciting time to work in marketing and brands were constantly looking at ways to leverage off this big event, and I was fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time.
I then went on to work for some of the top agencies in the country, including Jenni Newman PR and DNA Brand Architects, which is where my entrepreneurial nature was shaped, and then four years ago I decided to take a leap of faith and started Orchard On 25.
VN: Tell us what you do and what does a typical day look like for you? JB: Orchard On 25 is a boutique brand marketing communications agency and we receive all types of briefs because we have built a reputation for solving problems for brands. A typical day under normal circumstances includes tackling all sorts of briefs and brand challenges, identifying opportunities for clients, looking for new business, inspiring and motivating the team, and a whole lot of business admin which the world never gets to see.
However, our industry — just like most globally, has been affected by the covid-19 [disease, caused by the novel coronavirus] and we have been spending a lot of our time reworking our communications strategies so they adhere to the new government guidelines or to ensure that they are relevant to the consumer, whose normal routine has been affected by the lockdown. We have also relied heavily on events and activations to reach the consumer but, at the moment, a lot of the work has had to move to digital platforms as a lot of consumers are increasingly spending more time on digital platforms.
VN: Tell us more about the future plans of your company, Orchard On 25; what do the next five years look like? JB: We are a bunch of young problem-solvers who are obsessed with taking brands to greater heights and our plan is to take the Orchard On 25 brand across the African continent and execute in different territories while opening up new markets for our clients. We have also been working on growing our digital offering and we hope that, [in] the next few years, we will be able to provide a full-service offering which includes digital, because that is where the industry has evolved to.
We have also learnt to adapt our plans with agility — as the world continues to evolve at such a fast rate, so has our offering. I mean, last year, it was unthinkable that the world would go into a partial shutdown due to the coronavirus but, today, we find ourselves in a situation which requires us to change our thinking in order to deliver strategies which are relevant [for] how the world is operating. So, we are also learning that you can’t plan too far ahead due to the constant change of the environment we operate in.
VN: What are the key things you’ve learnt in your business journey that you wish you had known when you started the business? JB: I was fortunate enough to have worked in another startup before Orchard On 25 and I got the opportunity to learn a lot about the world of business at my previous agency. However, nothing really prepares you for how tough and lonely business is. So, I wish I had learnt very early that I would have to have lots of conversations with myself because sometimes people don’t really understand some of the tricky things one has to do to navigate this world of business.
VN: What is your business and creative philosophy? JB: I think the one thing that drives the business and agency philosophy is that whatever work we put out should create thought-provoking conversations. As marketing professionals, we have the opportunity to influence consumers, so our work should drive them to engage with our brands and ultimately fall in love with them.
VN: What are some lessons you can share with female business owners and lessons you’ve learnt in your journey? JB: One of the biggest lessons I have learnt is that starting a business should never be an emotional decision; there has to be a lot of planning that goes into starting because it is going to get tough and one cannot create if they have bread-and-butter issues to deal with. So, those who are starting a business must be aware that they have to give so much of themselves to the vision and it will be tough and lonely, so please make sure that you plan and save for any eventualities that might arise.
I have also learnt about the importance of having a great reputation in your industry; a lot of our clients are referred by people who know our work, or they have worked with me in the past, so maintaining great relationships is very important in our small industry.
VN: Why do you think the communications industry is struggling to transform and what do you think should be done to fast-track transformation? JB: I think transformation needs to be driven from the bottom up; there are so many brand managers and marketing managers who sit in positions of power who do not use their power to create opportunities for women, young people or any other previously disadvantaged communities. Each and every one of us has some level of power we wield and, if we started by transforming the bottom, we [would] create such a great funnel which will influence the top. A lot of people just go to work and don’t realise that theirs is a much bigger responsibility than just writing a brief or critiquing work, because transformation is also about building capabilities for the small guys, so that they, too, can sit at the table.
VN: What advice would you give someone completing their high-school education this year and looking to follow a career in the PR or creative industry? JB: I would tell young people to go for it — the world has changed and is slowly becoming automated but creativity is one space machines are not going to replace human beings —it is an exciting time to be a creative, so go for it.
VN: What do you feel is missing in the PR industry today and what should the future look like in South Africa and the rest of the continent? JB: I think a lot of people do not understand that solutions can come from anywhere, so PR is often treated as the poor step-cousin of the marketing world and an afterthought on most briefs, and yet PR in today’s world is probably one of the most-influential arms of the marketing mix. So, our industry needs to stop thinking in traditional boxes and stop limiting the power of PR because we have the power to lead campaigns and increasingly change sentiments.
I also think that the time we find ourselves in require brands to evolve their strategies and build meaningful and powerful relationships with consumers by telling authentic and uplifting stories. Right now, during the covid-19 lockdown, a lot of brands have decided to shy away from communicating, and yet consumers are desperate for good news. Great brands should be able to use this period to build relationships with consumers, so that they are top of mind when our world goes back to normal. Completely disappearing makes them look like they only communicate when they want to sell but, right now, consumers are looking for reassurance and hope, and great brands like Castle Lager have seized this opportunity and they are receiving lots of love [Full disclosure: Badza does work on Castle Lager and has done work for Castle Milk Stout in the past].
Or [look at] how South African Tourism [has] created a brand campaign which [is] so insightful, appropriate and deliver[s] a powerful call-to-action around lockdown, and [has] sealed it off with a positive message on what we should be doing once we get covid-19 under control. Consumers [have] resonated with that message and it really [has] made each and every one of us appreciate the liberties and beauty we sometimes take for granted. This, for me, [is] one example of how brands show up and demonstrate to consumers that we are in this together.
VN: What legacy do you want to leave when you retire from the industry? JB: I am a people’s person, so I want my legacy to have been that of an entrepreneur who created the best place to work at. Founders are often very complicated individuals with a history of tyranny and abuse and, for me, success is creating a place of work which gives people dignity and a decent living.
VN: If you had a superpower, what would you want it to be? JB: To be honest, I feel like I am living my superpower life because, 15 years ago, it was not even possible for me to be where I am and, each time I switch off our office at the end of a long day, I am amazed at what we have managed to build in less than four years. However, if I wasn’t doing this, I would like to be paid to be an executive producer of the biggest award shows on the continent.
VN: Tell us something about yourself not generally known? JB: That I am loner — when you work in PR and marketing people always think you are this outgoing person but I actually prefer being alone at home, cooking or tucked away reading a book or watching TV. So, working from home during this lockdown period has given me the opportunity to do all the things I also enjoy privately while at the same time delivering great work for clients
VN: What exciting projects are you working on at the moment? JB: At the moment we have one of the most-exciting briefs from Johnnie Walker which involves making whiskey cool again — I love this brief, not because I am a whiskey lover but because it’s an opportunity to reshape and redefine a category. So, we have been rolling out some of the most-fun campaigns in the last year, introducing the brand to coolness and changing consumer perceptions.
We are also working on such a powerful and exciting campaign with Nestlé Nespray, where we are making mathematics fun again for learners. This campaign is about connecting with learners and instilling the habit of using maths to solve every day challenges.
VN: Brag a bit, tell us about your awards, brands you’ve worked on… don’t be shy, tell us! JB: I think I have quite a few pieces of work that I hold very dear to my heart:
A few years ago, I was awarded the Simon Cowell Award for creativity for a Vodacom campaign we executed for their Nxt Lvl Offering and that campaign really demonstrated how PR could be a big recruiter for signups onto the platform, and I was very proud of the execution
We also worked on the Castle Milk Stout Campaign called “Get It Back”[#GetItBack] and it was about [the] embracing of African identity in today’s world and what it means for the consumer living in modern South Africa. The Clan Praise Cans moved the product off the shelf and was nominated and won quite a lot of awards.
We also received the Blue Stone Global Award by the Ciroc Global Team for best practice and best campaigns with our Ciroc and Moschino collaboration
Recently, we got to launch Tanqueray’s Flor De Sevilla, which was also one campaign that has been on everyone’s lips since our execution.
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
Veli Ngubane (@TheNduna) entered the world of advertising with a passion after completing his BSocSci (law, politics and economics) at UCT and a post-graduate marketing diploma at Red & Yellow, where he’s currently advisory board chairman. He also sits on the IAB’s Transformation & Education Council, is a DMA board member and Loeries, APEX, Pendoring, Bookmarks and AdFocus. He is the group MD of AVATAR and co-founder of M&N Brands, which is building an African network of agencies to rival the global giants. In his monthly column “Young, Gifted & Killing It”, he profiles award-winning, kick-ass black creative talent in South Africa.
by Charlie Stewart (@CStewart_ZA) At the time of writing, over a billion people have been locked down in self isolation. While some fixate on the availability of toilet paper, most of us are calling for more information on the spread of the covid-19. It’s an issue vexing the minds of governments, including our own leaders in South Africa. And it’s an issue laden with complexity. What data should be gathered and what should be shared? Do we, for example, have a right to know if our neighbours or colleagues are contagious?
While it might be handy to be told that Thembi from no. 43 has a dry cough so you can keep a safe distance when putting out the rubbish, we’re already hearing reports of vigilantes dispensing mob justice to keep their communities safe. About 10 days ago, the Daily Mail reported that a Kenyan man was beaten to death by a group of thugs who suspected he might have had the coronavirus.
Counter-terrorism methods to track infected
Meanwhile, CNN reported that Israel approved the use of cellphone tracking technology to monitor suspected coronavirus patients — a measure that had previously only been adopted in the fight against organised terrorism.
As countries around the world step up their efforts to fight the spread of the disease, there are very real concerns that our personal privacy is at risk. While the Israelis have claimed that its security agency is passing information straight to its Ministry of Health and that its spies won’t store data or record tracked patients phone calls, it must be damned tempting for them.
Back home, on Thursday evening, 19 March 2020, Pansy Tlakula, our information regulator chairperson, released a statement (pdf) calling on our government to “streamline the proactive disclosure of all information relating to the virus”. Part of the message focused on the need for effective fact-checking to curtail the transmission of fake news (which has been spreading faster than the virus itself) but, for the most part, it centred on the importance for public and private bodies to put safeguards in place to ensure that personal information is secure and not used for any purpose other than intended.
POPI acts
The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) is due to come into effect tomorrow, Wednesday 1 April, and while there will be a grace period before sanctions are imposed on offenders, the covid-19 crisis brings into sharp focus the moral dilemma of what information we should be capturing and what we should be sharing.
The pandemic has led to a massive increase in internet traffic as more of us work from home, as we scour the web for updates, shop online and otherwise try to keep ourselves entertained. While the internet will play a pivotal role in helping the world function during these trying times, we need to be cognisant that every search and click we make is being tracked.
Both Google and Facebook are working on ways of sharing data — and, while they say it will be anonymised and aggregated, neither has a great track record. Facebook, in particular, has been battling headwinds for years; just the other week the Wall St Journal reported (paywall) on the latest updates to a long-running lawsuit concerning Facebook’s wonky data.
Even if few governments are implementing Israeli-like monitoring, the very last thing we need is for tracking measures designed to contain the pandemic to be used as an excuse for greater state surveillance.
In this context I must commend our information regulator’s proactive stance in reminding her colleagues of their duty to safeguard our data. Whether they do though, only time will tell.
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
Charlie Stewart (@CStewart_ZA) is CEO of Rogerwilco, a multi-award-winning independent digital agency best known for its expertise with Drupal, SEO and content marketing. Together with Mark Eardley, he co-authored Business to Business Marketing: A Step by Step Guide, (Penguin Random House, 2016) and may be found on LinkedIn. Charlie contributes the regular column, “Clicks ‘n Tricks”, which looks at how brands are using digital channels to engage their customers, to MarkLives.com.
This MarkLives #CoronavirusSA special section contains coverage of how the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its resultant disease, covid-19, is affecting the advertising, marketing and related industries in South Africa and other parts of Africa, and how we are responding. Updates may be sent to us via our contact form or the email address published on our Contact Us page. Opinion pieces/guest columns must be exclusive.
by Bobby Amm. On Friday, 27 March 2020 (a day we’d often speculated about but never thought would actually arrive) happened. Our industry has been put on indefinite hold; the future completely uncertain. Nevertheless, here are the five pillars of the Commercial Producers Association of South Africa’s strategy for the coming months. There’s a lot of work ahead and details are still scant but, if we work together, we believe we can prepare ourselves for recovery.
Shockwaves
The shock started as a ripple with the presidential announcement of the coronavirus lockdown on Monday evening, 23 March; soon it escalated into a tsunami rushing towards the shore and bleak reality set in.
We’re not alone, of course; the shockwaves reverberate around the world as we come to terms with covid-19 and its impact on every part of our lives. It’s something we never expected and our future suddenly looks very different. For commercial producers, who thrive on finding solutions to every challenge imaginable, the havoc caused by this invisible stealthy virus is particularly jarring. Aside from the tragic loss of lives, the challenges it’s created are of such enormous proportions it feels impossible to even know where to start on the long road back.
As daunting as the task is, we need to take the first steps towards normality; this is difficult to do when nobody is certain when normality will return, or if it ever will. Will three weeks turn into three months? How long can we continue in this holding pattern with no work? How do we contain the fear and panic that’s already starting to set in?
Perhaps our first step is to act as if…
It requires a leap of faith but perhaps acting as if everything is going to be ok is the way to focus our attention on what needs to happen for us to get there. Let’s sit down and make a list and start to work on what we can do now to plan for the future.
#1. Support our members
We’re currently looking at ways to best support our members and also to create solutions to their challenges. The biggest stumbling block at the moment is that we simply have no idea when work will commence again.
In the local industry, we hope that clients and agencies will continue to invite genuine pitches (even in a very limited capacity) so that, when the isolation period ends, work can resume without additional delays. We promote the concept of “postponement over cancellation” and anticipate that work postponed following the outbreak of covid-19 will pick up again.
Although the timing of the outbreak was fortuitous (in that we managed to have a season lasting four months), there may be long-term challenges for our service sector as international clients may be barred from entering the country for some time. We’re currently looking at increasing capacity for remote streaming and promoting South African directors and DOPs to international clients.
#2. Assist our supply chain
Covid-19 has hit our supply chain of small businesses and freelance crew and talent extremely hard. The resumption of shoots is key to getting everyone working again, although there’s no doubt that this pandemic will change the industry in drastic ways.
The CPA will be interrogating how we may best assist the industry supply chain. Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes here but we’re encouraged to see the formation of support groups and the drafting of industry petitions. It’s important that those affected initiate their own solutions but their efforts can certainly dovetail with ours.
The CPA intends to motivate to government for support for our members and supply chain. We’ll also assist suppliers, where appropriate, with letters to creditors.
As we know there’s going to be a short-term need and to meet it, the CPA has launched a crowdfunding platform to raise funds for freelancers who’re in dire need of assistance: cpasa.tv/covid-19. We request that everyone who is able to make a contribution (no matter how small) do so in support of the industry’s invaluable freelancers.
#3. Pool resources & increase communication
It’s very important that we work as a community during the months ahead. At the CPA, we’re looking at ways to engage members and other groups during the lockdown period. Communication will be more vital than ever before and, fortunately, technology gives us the tools necessary to facilitate this.
Unfortunately, technology may also create panic as we tend to feed off social media and inadvertently share fake news as the industry comes to terms with what’s happening. At some point, we need to shut out these distractions so that we can start to focus. In order to facilitate more meaningful communication, it makes sense for interest groups to appoint specific people who they trust to carry their message forward.
In the weeks ahead, we also need to begin to consolidate and share information and also to pool our collective resources.
#4. Coordinate a cogent request for assistance from government
While we know that many industry sectors have already been in touch with government agencies and departments, the CPA is still in the process of coordinating a cogent request for government assistance on various levels. While it’s tempting to look to government for immediate financial relief, we think it’s likely that it may initially prioritise other sectors. (although we do support the push for immediate assistance to freelancers).
We want to put forward proposals that won’t necessarily cost the government money but may present solutions that assist with tax, cash flow, debt management, capital investment etc. For this we need the assistance of experts in those fields and so we plan to consult with them on what’s possible and what we should request to ensure a positive response and, we hope, the delivery of a raft of measures specific to our industry.
This will be a process and we’ll need to resist the urge to become impatient and frustrated.
#5. Make plans to work again
We encourage everyone to use the lockdown period constructively. Catch up with admin, pay outstanding invoices, file your IRP5s, work on pitches and proposals etc. It’s important that we don’t see the lockdown as enforced isolation or a holiday but, rather, as an opportunity to consolidate and do work you may have been putting off now —free up your time for the months ahead.
Working over this period will help us to remain focused and feel positive that we’re doing all we can to keep our industry alive. It may seem obvious but we need to make plans for the future to ensure we have a future. Let’s not be put off by uncertainty or anxiety but, rather, continue to develop and implement the plans required for us to work again. At the CPA, we’ll be brainstorming ideas and looking at new technologies and opportunities that can facilitate our return to work.
Integrity
As we move into this period of great uncertainty, we’d like to appeal to everyone working in our industry to proceed with integrity. Times like these test our character and our response to them will ultimately define our future. We hope that, when one day we look back on this crisis, we can say we took the highroad in the long journey back.
We wish all Martini Shot readers and their families well over the next three weeks and in the months ahead.
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
Bobby Amm has been chief executive of the Commercial Producers Association of South Africa (CPA), the trade association of production companies that produce television, cinema and internet commercials for the local and international market, since 2003. She contributes the regular column, “The Martini Shot”, covering developments, trends and insights into the commercial production and film services industries in South Africa, to MarkLives.com.
This MarkLives #CoronavirusSA special section contains coverage of how the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its resultant disease, covid-19, is affecting the advertising, marketing and related industries in South Africa and other parts of Africa, and how we are responding. Updates may be sent to us via our contact form or the email address published on our Contact Us page. Opinion pieces/guest columns must be exclusive.
by Paulo Dias (@therealptp) While we’re still in the early days, what could the radio listening landscape look like over these three weeks of coronavirus lockdown in South Africa?
Every international radio site, blog and newsletter I go to for information has carried headlines such as “Radio in a time of crises”, “Radio hunkers down”,” Radio booms while streaming stalls”, “Radio is Soul Food” and “You’ve got a friend in me” — eliciting visions of speaking toys, which I’m sure, will come on Day 12 of all of this. Back in SA, more than a few people have said to me that they assume radio will suffer during this lockdown as people won’t be in their cars and therefore won’t be listening to radio.
Myth-busting
The first myth to bust is around in-car listening. There’s a misconception that radio’s consumed primarily in cars, but this has never been the case in SA. Time after time, RAMS show that almost 90% of radio listening happens at home.
So, a lockdown is nothing to fear for radio stations over this period. The stations I spoke to last week* told us that listeners surveyed will listen more to radio during covid-19 and that phone calls and WhatsApp messages to the shows, as well as web traffic and streaming, are already up between 25% and 35%.
In programming terms, there’s been a widespread change in tone towards one of belonging and community; at the time of writing, stations are playing the national anthem in unity at the same time and more initiatives like this will be common over the next few weeks.
Stations are changing lineups to fit into the dramatic changes to listeners’ lives. Presenters are being moved around; breakfast shows are starting later; and sports and traffic are naturally being dropped to either accommodate specialised covid-19 bulletins or to fit in more music.
Challenge met
The challenge to balance entertainment and information has been met.
Listeners need news they can trust and they need it regularly. Radio stations understand their job is to curate the news and eliminate the fake… something listeners can’t get on social or WhatsApp. They will increasingly turn to radio for information — KFM told me that the biggest request it got on messaging lines the previous weekend was for the Department of Health’s WhatsApp number! [0600 123456 and now adopted by WHO for worldwide use— ed-at-large]
South African radio behaviour is following trends that have emerged in the UK, France and Spain. Global, Europe’s largest radio company and home to the UK’s biggest radio stations, reported that daily radio reach is up 15%, hours listened to is up by 9% and, interestingly, news podcast consumption is also up by 10%.
Save lives
I highlight time and again in this column that radio matters when it makes a difference and it thrives during disaster. At the risk of being trite, it’s not unthinkable that radio could save lives over this period.
We don’t know what waits on the other side — but along the way we’ll use radio to touch people like never before. To lift your spirits, I’d like you to take a listen to the best moment of Clap for NHS — an initiative in England that saw the country stop to applaud the efforts of the health workers on Thursday 26 March. Skip through if you want but there are so many goosebump moments and I hope we can create our own moment like this on SA radio.
And, to close off, I put on my other hat as a massive George Michael and Wham! fan with the advice, “It doesn’t matter how appealing George Michael makes it sound, let’s not go outside.”
*Thank you to my contacts at Mediamark and Primedia who shared their data with me.
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
Paulo Dias (@therealptp) is the head of creative integration at Ultimate Media. He works closely with the programming teams at leading radio stations to help implement commercial messaging into their existing formats. He contributes the regular column, “Dear Radio”, looking at the changing radio landscape in South Africa, to MarkLives.com
This MarkLives #CoronavirusSA special section contains coverage of how the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its resultant disease, covid-19, is affecting the advertising, marketing and related industries in South Africa and other parts of Africa, and how we are responding. Updates may be sent to us via our contact form or the email address published on our Contact Us page. Opinion pieces/guest columns must be exclusive.
by Wendy Shepherd (@thewordshepherd) My dad once told me how to cook a frog. You put it in a pot of cold water and very slowly heat it up until the frog is cooked. If you put it straight into boiling water, it will immediately jump out. You’ll be pleased to know this was an analogy. My father could barely make toast, let alone questionable French cuisine. He was talking about people in bad situations, why they stay in them when all evidence is to the contrary, and why they only wake up when it’s too late.
The coronavirus has had the opposite effect, and with some very interesting — and very human — consequences on our collective behaviour.
First, there was a sneeze
I work in London. I [used to] have a 90-minute commute every day to and from my offices, on a train, a tube and a bus. The first thing I started noticing around the beginning of February 2020 was that, if you sneezed on the train, people sidled out of the way. I sneezed a lot, obediently into a tissue every time, but nevertheless in threes. This subtle, yet pointed, sidling, which wasn’t a mean feat on a packed train to London Bridge, reminded me of another great London experience, the Black Death. “Atishoo atishoo, we all fall down”. It made me smile.
Londoners have a peculiar shared genetic history about certain things. Local history is full of reminders of the infamous plague. Every time another tube line is extended, a tranche of skeletal plague victims from innumerable mass graves of the seventeenth century is uncovered. It’s a grisly reality in these parts because, unfortunately, London is built on other London. The layers of memory mimic the layers of sediment under our modern footfalls.
The frog heats up
By mid-February, there was a lot more news. Thousands more confirmed cases. Country after country confirming its first case. Italy blew up and shut down. Cruise ships became plague ships. People were quietly self-isolating from offices when their partners returned from affected areas, healthy but cautious. Some countries were the hot frog, closing public institutions and banning everything else in corona hysteria; others were more conservative, preferring to react as necessity urged them, and copping a lot of criticism from the hot-frog countries.
The shift in human behaviour was fascinating to watch. Nobody held the handrail on the escalators. Hand-sanitiser brands suddenly developed nifty little carriers on backpacks. And yes, people wore masks, like they were ever going to help. Every conversation included coronavirus. The memes were ubiquitous. Facebook filled up with the stuff. But still there was very little actual panic around me. We went to work, we read the government guidance, we did what we were advised to do. We washed our happy-birthday hands several times a day, and most of us discovered how much we love to touch our faces.
And then the toilet paper ran
Nobody can say why it was toilet paper, even now. It will remain one of those wonderful human peculiarities that, in times of trouble and pressure, we prefer to save our arse, rather than our face. You can’t save both at the same time, after all. Panic is contagious. Sharon is buying 80 packs of two-ply. Why is Sharon doing that? What does Sharon know that I don’t? I must also buy them! Out of my way, Sharon!
I literally watched this happen in a Tesco down the road. Car-boot profiteering soon began on hand sanitiser and wet wipes, too, and — in the blink of an eye — the supermarket shelves were empty of everything except vegan options (there’s a whole other article in there) and toys.
This reveals an ugly truth about us. In times of crisis, altruism isn’t our natural instinct. We go straight back to primeval plague survival, when it’s everyone for themself. I have personal evidence of this, too. I choked on a train. A simple malfunction of my physiology(I swallowed down the wrong pipe) unleashed a coughing fit I had absolutely no control over. My whole carriage emptied in seconds amid angry looks. Had I been legitimately choking in a dying sort of way, there was nobody around to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre. I was, well and truly, on my own.
Remote working is the new frog
Most of us have been sent home now, with our laptops and big screens and oodles of clever meeting software to negotiate. That online world we all love so much is now our whole world, bringing with it all the problems of not being allowed to be around other people.
This would be a fantastic time to do market research. Here in the UK, brands are responding in all kinds of interesting ways. Airbnb is taking the moral high ground and issuing full refunds because it’d rather “people don’t have to travel just to keep their money”. Makeup brands are urging us to be kind, and make sure we know they’re still delivering lip wash to your very door at the same insane prices. Online retailers are absolutely coining it. Small businesses are gasping. And we’re all negotiating a brave new world we weren’t particularly emotionally prepared for.
Maybe Greta Thunberg is right. That dour-looking youngster warned us that our feckless climate ways would come back to haunt us. Maybe this is how the world is giving us a snotklap in the right direction. China’s air is cleaner than it’s been since ancient times. Practically nobody is flying anywhere. And we’re all commuting less. However this turns out, what a time to be in!
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
Wendy Shepherd (@thewordshepherd) spends part of her time developing and writing online short courses and accredited full-time programmes in the advertising and marketing environment. She’s also a very happy pharma writer. She’s planning on being a MarkLives columnist once a month and other BHAGS occupy the rest.
This MarkLives #CoronavirusSA special section contains coverage of how the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its resultant disease, covid-19, is affecting the advertising, marketing and related industries in South Africa and other parts of Africa, and how we are responding. Updates may be sent to us via our contact form or the email address published on our Contact Us page. Opinion pieces/guest columns must be exclusive.
by Carey Finn (@carey_finn) Darren Sandras, director and partner at specialist entertainment marketing agency, One-eyed Jack, talks to the future of the creative sector and the challenges faced as digital technology plays an ever-bigger role, especially now.
Note: This interview was conducted prior to the coronavirus/covid-19 pandemic being declared as such. Additional comment has been supplied, as requested. Darren Sandras: Now, more than ever, the human connection is important. And this is where technology can keep us connected, keep us working, keep us sane. As a business, like so many others, we have to adapt to this new normal, for however long it will take. They say innovation often comes [out of] times of crisis; I believe that businesses, brands and people will come out of this situation with a new appreciation for just how connected we are and develop new ways of doing things we took for granted. It’s scary, it’s incredibly humbling and it’s going to change the way we do things.
Q5: There’s much talk about the potential and pitfalls associated with increased reliance on digital technologies in advertising and marketing. What’s your take on it, and what’s One-eyed Jack doing to strike a balance for brands and consumers in 2020? DS: Technology and digital marketing are revolutionising the industry — and the way brands and agencies find and engage with consumers. As with most things, it’s about balance. Too much reliance on technology to do the work and thinking of a human means you could lose the, well, human touch. Not enough technology could mean that you can’t analyse and optimise effectively if you aren’t using powerful digital tools.
I love that a lot of the work we [have done] for our clients — whether PR, brand marketing or events — [has allowed] us to actually see the end-result of our campaigns; to see what the consumers experience. This is so important: to be at the end of the funnel and gain insight into how consumers touch/feel/see what you’ve done in the real world, not only via stats on a spreadsheet.
Q5: What, in your experience, is the biggest concern for brands, when it comes to the use of digital technology in adland? DS: Digital technology has given us incredible ways to learn more about how consumers behave and how they consume. But something we see quite often is the overreliance on digital technology to do the work of a human. “If the numbers say it, it must be true.” When we view consumers as numbers, statistics, data, research, you can easily forget that you’re actually dealing with a human being at the end of it all. Get up, get out there, do some fieldwork. Play with the technology you’re putting forward as part of your marketing strategy. How can you propose using SnapChat or TikTok in a campaign if you’ve never used it yourself?
Q5: You work closely with influencers — a hot topic in today’s media landscape. What, in your opinion, makes someone an influencer, and what makes them someone a brand — and consumers — can trust? DS: Ah yes, The Influencer. Just about every brief we [have received] includes an influencer component. It’s a great tool, if used properly and authentically. Influencer marketing is not new. Brands have been using well-known people to sell their products and services for decades. Famous/successful/controversial people are interesting and appealing.
Humans want to connect with and relate to other humans. In the 1980s, there were a lot fewer ways for me to know who these famous people were, beyond TV, radio and print. And, even then, it was limited to my geography. Because I can follow just about anyone on Instagram from anywhere in the world, [it] means that people who were never before accessible or known to me can now influence how I see the world through their view of it, via the “privacy” of my smartphone. And they’re called influencers because that’s what they do: they influence the way I think/behave/experience/consume (often overtly, sometimes subtly).
Digital technology and social media has meant that the sphere of influence is now more varied (reach is substantially greater), more niche (consumers — and brands — are able to drill down to very specific interests or habits or subcultures) and more measurable (although this is where a lot of influencer campaigns fall short). These are all great things for brands, but someone can only influence me if I trust them. And this is the rub: trust is earned. And trust is earned through honesty and sincerity and authenticity. More and more, this is where the influencer model is shifting: humans are by nature pretty good at sensing when someone isn’t being “real”. So, to be of true influence, you need to do and say what’s real. Yes, you’re getting paid for it; you’re selling us something. We get that. But you still need to believe in what you’re selling if you want me to believe in it, too.
Q5: How do you see the influencer landscape shifting over the next 2–3 years? DS: To my earlier point, when the influencer model started, we thought that, just because Influencer A has 100 000 followers, they would by default exert influence and therefore help sell a product/brand/service. But how many of those 100 000 followers actually trust Influencer A? How many believe him/her? Today you’re driving car brand A; tomorrow it’s car brand B. You wash your way with shampoo X this month; next month it’s shampoo Y. And each time you’re telling me it’s the best you’ve ever used. No, thanks.
Now, influencers must work hard — and consistently — to earn and keep their followers’ trust. Having influence because you’re an influencer doesn’t make sense anymore. You can only influence me if what you do and say is real, authentic. This is a shift we’re already seeing: influencers must be sincere and sell what they believe in themselves. People can smell when things are off.
The other shift I believe will be reporting. We still see so many gaps in how influencers report back to the people paying them — and how to demonstrate ROI. For the influencer model to survive, everyone needs to get better at setting KPIs and reporting back on them using both qualitative tools and hard data. At One-eyed Jack, we have developed our own reporting structure for our influencer campaigns, which has enabled us to track activity, optimise and show the value of what we do.
Q5: Tell us a little more about the agency itself: where (and when) did it start, what are some highlights you’ve had over the years, and where are you heading this year? DS: One-eyed Jack is an award-winning, specialist entertainment marketing agency. We focus on brand marketing, PR, launches and activations; event creation, marketing and promotion; and sponsorship rights management. The agency started in 2012. Our revenue was the highest it’s ever been at the end of 2019, thanks to hard work from our team of seven, and we won more new business in the last 12 months than any other time in our agency’s history. Highlights are many and varied, but in September 2019 we were thrilled to launch the new Volkswagen T-Cross at the city we built especially for it, T-Cross City. We are proud to call TRACE TV, TRACE Mobile, Howler and the City of Cape Town new clients.
This year [we’ve been] focusing on what we’re great at and what we love: creating and marketing incredible events and brand experiences, delivering solid and engaging PR and building our client base across corporate and lifestyle brands.
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
Carey Finn (@carey_finn) is a writer and editor with over decade and a half of industry experience, having covered everything from ethical sushi in Japan to the technicalities of roofing, agriculture, medical stuff and more. She’s also taught English and journalism, and dabbled in various other communications ventures along the way, including risk reporting. As a contributing writer to MarkLives.com, her regular column “Q5”hones in on strategic insights, analysis and data through punchy interviews with inspiring professionals in diversive fields.
by MarkLives (@marklives) MarkLives is tracking South African and African brand and ad agency reactions and news related to the covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Updates may be sent to us via our contact form or the email address published on our Contact Us page (opinion pieces/guest columns must be exclusive). Most-recent announcements will be added on top. This is for 23–27 March 2020.
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
Friday, 27 March 2020
Remote-work starter kit by BetterWork
As many South Africans begin their first day of a 21 day lockdown here is a Remote Work Starter Kit, a people focused, remote work guide of curated and original resources to support team work. https://t.co/jnDXMEfPLH#wfh#remotework
BetterWork has released a Remote Work Starter Kit to cover the people-side of going remote. “So much of the focus has been on gearing up your tech stack that there’s limited focus on supporting the people doing the work — our focus as ever remains on them,” says Vincent Hofmann, BetterWork co-founder.
“The Remote Work Starter Kit has been released into the public commons under the Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike CC license. We hope that this communicates our intent: get something out to help teams and team leaders for free with no money-making agenda.”
The kit is a mix of curated and original techniques to orchestrate remote work and includes:
A survey to send to teams
A canvas to help teams work through common themes, with prompting questions for each to consider to build a remote-work policy,
General patterns which have been observed for each theme to support good work, and
A way to experiment with the new way of working.
Also included are templates which will give teams a headstart, such as a Team Rhythm calendar for build a team’s stable routine, an experiment tracker for tracking a portfolio of experiments and facilitator guides for running “awesome” remote meetings.
M&C Saatchi Abel launches staff emergency family fund
Ad agency M&C Saatchi Abel has launched an emergency fund for family of staff members affected by the current lockdown. Staff may motivate for assistance for members of their family facing monetary hardship.
The fund isn’t in place for salaried family members, explains Mike Abel, M&C Saatchi Abel chief executive partner, but for extreme family emergencies, which includes medication or groceries for parents or siblings suddenly unable to afford these. The agency will continue to support small suppliers with business as usual payments (including caterers, maintenance people, freelance security guards and auxiliary services).
Thursday, 26 March 2020
2019 PAMS results now a webinar
Given the imminent government lockdown, the Publisher Research Council’s release of the results of the Publisher Audience Measurement Survey 2019 (PAMS) will now be a webinar using Zoom video-conferencing on 7 April 2020.
PAMS 2019 offers an interesting picture of South Africa’s consumers and their relationship to brands across the automotive, banking, cellular, food, fashion and furniture categories.
“PAMS2019 is South Africa’s largest income-weighted sample of over 15 000 respondents,” says Josephine Buys, PRC CEO, “with the latest, most-representative sample and survey in South Africa that contains brand information.”
Date: 7 April 2020
Time: 10am–11am
Place: Via Zoom link
Further details: prc.za.com/pams-webinar
Wednesday, 25 March 2020
TBWA\SA, Grid Worldwide launch dashboard
TBWA\South Africa and Grid Worldwide have launched a covid-19 dashboard for staff and clients with the intention of showing:
What the current infection state is.
How markets and our key clients are performing.
What the trending consumer and brand actions/topics are.
Explains Luca Gallarelli, TBWA\SA GCEO, “To help support our teams and clients (or anyone for that matter), dealing with the business and brand impact, during and post covid-19, we wanted to create a simple tool to help gauge sentiment and sense check our actions. We didn’t want to focus on deep storytelling or a wide range of facts. We instead opted for a ‘less but better’ approach — Just enough to get a sense of where things are at, and how your actions contribute positively.
“Our hope is that, by providing relevant information in the following key areas, we can check our responses and play a role that supports the challenge responsibly.”
Engineering News & Mining Weekly suspends print during lockdown
Engineering News & Mining Weekly won’t be printing editions dated 27 March, 3 April, 10 April and 17 April 2020. These will, however, continue to be published in e-magazine format. The company plans to resume printing the magazines from 24 April and will keep all readers and subscribers informed of developments during this time.
Tuesday, 24 March 2020
Two conflicting statements from two different ministers in the same government. @Tourism_gov_za says no online food delivery and @the_dti says they are looking at making it essential service. We aren’t even in the lockdown and they can’t sing from the same hymn sheet. pic.twitter.com/lFHW7i1Jkq
All restaurants to close, no takeout, food-delivery service allowed
“In addition, in compliance with the [nationwide] lockdown, ALL food delivery services will also need to be suspended for 21 days with effect from midnight Thursday, 26 March 2020 until midnight Thursday, 16 April 2020.” — Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, minister of tourism.
Government has clarified rules for all restaurants in the country during the nationwide lockdown which goes into effect from midnight, Thursday, 26 March 2020, until midnight Thursday, 16 April 2020.
In compliance with the nationwide lockdown, it should be noted that all restaurants, cafes, bars, coffee shops will be required to comply with the nationwide lockdown for 21 days. Such service providers haven’t been included on the list of what’s been deemed essential services during the lockdown, won’t be permitted to operate and will need to be closed.
This affects all restaurants, take aways, QSEs, canteens and any hospitality food establishments in South Africa, the Restaurant Association of South Africa (RASA) has further clarified. Deliveries, takeaways and home deliveries are all affected. No exceptions are being made for any type of food service to continue to trade.
We had temporarily removed this story while verifying the information supplied with the Department of Tourism. And here it is. — The Editors.
Loeries, Constitution Hill call for creative solutions
Based on the principle that now, more than ever, the world needs brave creativity to keep it thriving, the Loeries and Constitution Hill — the venue for this year’s Loeries Creative Week, scheduled for September — have challenged the brand communication industry to come up with proactive ideas to help alleviate critical problems currently facing society. This is as the covid-19 pandemic takes a foothold across Africa and the Middle East.
Potential campaigns include ideas to prevent consumers from stockpiling, helping to deliver remote-education solutions, raising awareness of staying safe while using public transport, delivering care and food to the elderly in isolation and helping people who’re struggling with isolation.
Individuals in brand communication from across the region may choose a brief from www.wakethenation.org.za and send their solutions to createchange@loeries.com. Brands will fund the bravest ideas to help raise funds to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Spar apologises for posters saying people should avoid contact with pets
VMLY&R SA on positive attitude while in isolation
It’s been 7 days since becoming a company with 250 remote offices. Our people have embraced their new reality with such coolness; way beyond any Covid response plan could imagine. But a response plan is vital – this is how ours is playing out —> https://t.co/Ox5IplAJ71@VMLYRpic.twitter.com/bgMFtmMWIm
“It’s been a week since we sent our people home, overnight becoming a company with 250 remote offices. A lot has been written about the productivity levels of remote workers being higher than that of office workers. At the moment our people are energised and as passionate about their work as ever, but we’d be foolish not to recognise that we need to help them maintain a positive attitude while in isolation.” Read how ad agency, VMLY&R South Africa, is trying to achieve this on its blog.
Standard Bank announces SME payment relief
Standard Bank will provide payment relief to business clients with a turnover of under R20m for 90 days starting 1 April 2020. Find all the details here.
To lighten the load and pressure for small business owners, we are giving our customers with a turnover of less than R20m a 3 month payment holiday, effective 1 April 2020. Visit https://t.co/eNry8jjIB4 for more information #BankFromAnywherepic.twitter.com/aNZ5prL8se
“As a global network airline, we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot viably operate passenger services until countries reopen their borders, and travel confidence returns,” says Emirates in a statement to the media. “By Wednesday 25 March, although we will still operate cargo flights which remain busy, Emirates will have temporarily suspended most of its passenger operations. We continue to watch the situation closely, and as soon as things allow, we will reinstate our services.”
Having received requests from governments and customers to support the repatriation of travellers, Emirates will continue to operate passenger and cargo flights to the following countries until further notice, as long as borders remain open, and there is demand: the UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, USA, and Canada. The situation remains dynamic, and travellers may check flight status on emirates.com.
Tsogo Sun “deactivating” 36 hotels
Tsogo Sun Hotels is “deactivating” of a number of hotels in the key nodes where the group has multiple properties and consolidating the available demand into the remaining operating hotels in those areas. The first phase will affect up to 36 hotels, representing 7 700 rooms (or 40%) of the group’s portfolio over the next few weeks.
While we have your attention: Please would you consider taking out a MarkLives membership to help finance our operations? The covid-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on society and industry. With your support, either as a once-off or monthly contribution, we can continue our coverage of its impact on our industry.
This MarkLives #CoronavirusSA special section contains coverage of how the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its resultant disease, covid-19, is affecting the advertising, marketing and related industries in South Africa and other parts of Africa, and how we are responding. Updates may be sent to us via our contact form or the email address published on our Contact Us page. Opinion pieces/guest columns must be exclusive.
by Martin MacGregor (@MartMacG) Imagine your whole target market is forced to stay at home and unable to keep their eyes off their screens. We don’t have to anymore — this sudden shift in media behaviour is going to require a sudden shift in brands’ media strategy.
How idiosyncratic does out of home and radio drive time sound now? I’ve had to stop myself a few times these past two weeks and realise how ridiculous some of this language suddenly sounds. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as many terms are outdated and the behaviour based on historic legacy. A lot of stations show equal audiences throughout the day, with little drive-time peak.
Trying to come to terms with sudden change isn’t easy and the best way is to try and identify what the most apparent consumer needs are.
Lockdown
Lockdown will mean three things:
The need to be informed.
The need to be connected.
The need to be entertained.
Media implications will be both positive and negative.
The desperate need for information will increase audiences on local and global news sites, TV channels, Twitter and activity around covid-19 search terms. However, newspaper sales will now really drop off the cliff. Nobody wants to touch the news. [The news may not even be printed — ed-at-large.]
Isolation means digital connection is increasing in value. Facebook and Instagram are primed for this, as — of course — are any messenger platforms such as WhatsApp. Business connection platforms such as Microsoft Teams are soaring in usage. How long before advertising opportunities open up on these?
But lockdown also means no travel. Taxi ranks, airports and highways are emptying out and outdoor eyeballs are disappearing. Search activity for destinations are decreasing. Sampling? Most definitely off the table.
Connectivity
The search for entertainment at home to stem the boredom should drive a lot of media activity. This will be dependent on connectivity. From analogue aerials to Compact DStv dishes to 3G to fibre, the entertainment options may be different but audiences will most definitely be there.
It’s an opportunity, from the forlorn SABC to Netflix to YouTube, to grow audiences. For DStv as well, although the SuperSport drop off might counter much of that positivity. Daytime radio and magazines might also benefit. Cinemas, though, just have to take a deep breath and wait.
Whether being informed, connected or entertained, the activity is likely to involve some kind of screen at home.
For now, home is most definitely where the media is.
Martin MacGregor (@MartMacG) has been managing director of Connect, the M&C Saatchi media agency with offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town, since 2012. He has spent 22 years in the industry, having previously worked at Ogilvy and been MD of Nota Bene (now Wavemaker) in Cape Town. Martin contributes the monthly “Media Redefined” column, in which he challenges norms in the media space, to MarkLives.com.
This MarkLives #CoronavirusSA special section contains coverage of how the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and its resultant disease, covid-19, is affecting the advertising, marketing and related industries in South Africa and other parts of Africa, and how we are responding. Updates may be sent to us via our contact form or the email address published on our Contact Us page. Opinion pieces/guest columns must be exclusive.
This is obviously a tough time to take the lead at any ad agency. How are you planning to steer the agency through the current crisis — both economic and social — created by the corona pandemic?
